Renegade cattle living good life in Missouri after escape

ST. LOUIS (AP) — One year after bursting through a St. Louis slaughterhouse door to freedom, five renegade cattle are living the good life.

The steers are grazing on 15 acres of rolling hills and munching on treats flavored like apple pie, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports . Their faces are printed on the sides of mugs.

Six steers escaped Star Packing Co. in north St. Louis on March 30, 2017, and led police on an hourslong chase through the city. News helicopters tracked them as they went through neighborhoods flanked by police vehicles. Crowds came out to watch and cheer.

One of the steers was euthanized because of injuries, but the others were purchased from the slaughterhouse by the Gentle Barn, an animal rescue organization in California. They now live on a sanctuary created for them near Grubville in Jefferson County, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of St. Louis.

The sanctuary is open on Sundays to visitors, with tickets costing $20 for adults and $10 for children.

The rescue group recently held a party to mark the anniversary of the steers’ escape.

“These guys a year ago saw that they had no way out, and they made their own future,” Gentle Barn Missouri manager Michelle Robertson told the crown. “They ran for their lives and they won.”

The Gentle Barn raised more than $400,000 to give the steers a home and used the money to open the Jefferson County location in September. The steers live with four chickens, eight turkeys, three pigs and two goats.